Coolidge

by Amity Shlaes

It is difficult for men in high office to avoid the malady of self-delusion. They are always surrounded by worshipers. They are constantly, and for the most part sincerely, assured of their greatness.

“A higher tax means real wages are lower. . . . Every home is burdened”—

He closed his speech with a reminder of Grover Cleveland. Cleveland, Americans would remember, had not spent federal money in a depression; on the contrary, he had tightened up. Again he pushed, suggesting that the Democratic Party was no longer the responsible party it had once been. Cleveland had stood on sound and conservative principles.